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User - posted on 10/19/2013

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My kids favorite Green Gift is the TickleMe Plant Kit. The TickleMe Plants are real plants that you can grow indoors year round, that will close their leaves and lower their branches when tickled. Its a REAL plant and the kits include everything you need, soil, flower pot and seeds. My kids treat them as their pets. Visit http://www.ticklemeplant.com to see live one in action. They sprout in days and have pink fluffy flowers. A great learning experience too. You can also find some on Amazon.

I run an eco-friendly business http://www.GreenBabyClothingCompany.com so if you are looking for a special gift check us out - buy three or more enjoy FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in North America (mainland)

These are some great ideas. I know it sounds dorky, but this is the first time I thought of buying "used" gifts. My son is really into WWII, so I found some "like new" items (book and dvd) that he was interested in at Amazon. They really do look new, and they're better for the environment. Plus, it saved a little money; that's always nice.

I'm making some gifts-like crocheting some scarves, but I'm not very handy-or at least I lack stick-to-it-ivness.

We're trying to focus more on the reason for Christmas and deemphasis the gifts thing a little. We're not trying to take that whole aspect out of it, but there's no need to completely go hog wild with presents.

I'm going to check out some of these links you guys shared. I had also thought of adopting an animal through WWF. That seemed neat.

My kids (3 &4 years old) and I are making a lot of our gifts this year. We are doing gifts in a jar as well as homemade Hot Chocolate. Another gift we are making is pine cone bird feeders. I also made slippers and ornaments.

I also love Rosie Hippo, most of their toys are made from natural materials. This year, my brothers, are giving my daughters gift certificates for their time. A special Uncle/Niece trip to the zoo for one..the science museum for the other. This way we're not consuming more, we're supporting the local ecomomy and the girls will always have these special memories with their Uncles.

I made some fabric gift bags which I use year after year. Then got the bright idea of making one per child that is about the size of a pillow case. I stored the gifts in each of their bags as I got them, so I could keep track better. If you collect gifts through the year or get them from thrift shops it is sometimes gets hard to keep track of who has how many. They look like "Santa sacks" under the tree too, which is kind of nice. Inside the individual gifts get wrapped with fabric scraps, recycled wrap or etc.

Last year we started a new tradition of letting Santa know in our letter that we don't want him to wrap our presents. It saved time and wasted less. My 3 and 4 year old had plenty of presents from family members to open that they did not miss it at all Christmas morning.

Our family loves getting Membership gifts. They provide hours and hours of fun without any additional waste nor do they take up space in your home. We take public transport and walk to the childrens museum, aquarium, playspace, etc.

This is a little self-promotion, but more than that too...I own an eco-kids store in Venice, Ca. Basically most of the things are used while the rest are made organically and sustainably or from recycled materials. Anyway, kids don't know the difference between new clothes and used clothes, so I buy used clothes for my nieces and nephews (and my daughter too)! There are some great gifts (all around $20) like eco-dough, eco-fingerpaint, imagination boxes, green toys, etc. that all inspire a little bit of creativity while treading lightly on the planet.

Does anyone have some ideas for eco friendly xmas presents for older kids? My kids (girls) are 9, 7, and 6 and so far I have only come up with some ideas that i am excited about but they might not be thrilled with. I'm thinking along the lines of stainless water bottles and adopting a pet from wwf or anything wooden for toys.